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August 29, 2012

Interview with Jukebox the Ghost

I think this is just one of those bands that has stuck-in-your-head-all-day kind of songs. The Brooklyn-based trio Jukebox the Ghost released their third studio album, Safe Travels, this June, and have been setting off on an extensive nationwide tour, including the Outside Lands Music Festival. Their lively set on Saturday was dancey and fun, and the band's stage presence certainly makes them a fun band to see live.

Guitarist Tommy Siegel chatted with me on Saturday of the fest! Read below to see what he had
to say about his most embarrassing moment onstage, his wish-list for bands to see at the fest, and more, and listen to the poppy track "Oh, Emily" from their most recent album.

On reception of their new albumTommy: It’s been going great! It’s been a really pleasant surprise to see that when we play shows, it doesn’t feel like we’re playing new songs; the crowd just seems like totally with it. It’s just been really exciting, it’s going great.

On festival playing

Tommy: We played yesterday and part of playing a festival is knowing that you’re not playing to your hardcore fans. You’re playing to get some new fans. So for us, we wanted to promote the new record. There were probably some new fans that came and were pissed that we didn’t play more songs of our first two records. But it’s the chance for us to actually branch out and show people what we’re doing right now.

On his most embarrassing moment

Tommy: [laughs] That’s a great question. Okay, this is a bad one. So, on our first record, we have a lot of songs about the apocalypse. I was giving a little introduction at one of our shows to talk about what the song was about, and instead of apocalypse...I said “Holocaust.” It got really bad. As a Jew myself I was able to clean it up a bit, but it was not good.

On bands at Outside Lands

Tommy: You know, I was kind of most excited to see Neil Young last night, because I’ve never seen him, that was awesome. He lived up to all my expectations. And I’m excited to see Tame Impala today. I was excited to see Yellow Ostrich but I think I missed them. Dr. Dog tonight will be great, Stevie Wonder tomorrow will be great.